Marbled Pink (rose marbré)

This extravagant décor, known as rose marbré (marbled pink), is exemplified by the “Calabre Teapot” (théière Calabre, 1761, slide 28): an overall pink ground color is overlaid with jagged lightning-bolts of textured gilding, bordered in blue of varying tints, creating a dynamically marbled effect. This style is found on pieces dated from 1761–63. To create this unusual effect, the rose ground color was initially fired, then covered with a coat of blue; once the latter was dry, it was scraped away to create the marbled pattern (Savill 1988, 2:594). Dallot-Naudin and Jacob describe this as “pink and blue faux-marbled ground” (1983, 226–27). Read more about Calabre teapots on this page of the Exhibit.

References: Dallot-Naudin and Jacob 1983, 226–27; Eriksen and De Bellaigue 1987, 52–53; Savill 1988, 2:594.